How to Survive in the Wilderness
by Jellyfish Jam
Summary: Gobber throws the class into the wilderness for a survival test.  When Hiccup and Snotlout are paired together for the assignment, how long will they be able to last? Not a Slash fic. Rated T to be safe. R&R!
1. The Contest

**So I just thought of this idea last night while on my way to dinner. I was thinking, "You know? Nobody ever does a fan fiction with Hiccup being stuck with Snotlout. I wonder what that would be like." So I decided to make this fan fiction to find out what would happen if they were forced to be stuck together. I don't do slash pairings. I only ship Hiccup with Astrid and Camicazi, so…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own How to Train Your Dragon. But I have watched and read it way too many times this month.**

**Chapter One: The Contest**

Gobber walked slowly up and down the line of Viking children, scowling down at them. He had told the class that he had something special prepared for them for training today, though he failed to specify what it was they were doing. They weren't even at their usual meeting place of the training dome. Instead, Hiccup, Astrid, Ruffnutt, Tuffnutt, Snotlout, and Fishlegs stood freezing and shivering in their coats near of the edge of the forest, their teeth chattering.

"All right kids," Gobber said finally after sizing them up. "Today we're going to take a break from sword fighting and dragon training to learn another essential skill. Survival in the wilderness. One day you might find yourself lost and utterly confused, miles away from civilization with no one around for miles. You will need to rely on your wits and instincts if you are to survive."

"Wait a minute," Snotlout interrupted. "You're saying this as if it's going to happen!"

"It is!" Gobber replied. "You and a partner are going to be thrown somewhere into the woods and you'll have to use your wits if you want to make it back alive." A chorus of complaints followed this, but Gobber ignored them. "And I'm turning this into a competition," he continued. "The first pair to make it back alive and intact gets a reward." This perked everybody's interest.

"What's the reward?" Fishlegs asked excitedly, despite himself. Gobber laughed.

"Stoick and I agreed to let the winners have a full banquet all to themselves while the rest of ya get to eat their small meals and watch in jealousy," Gobber announced. The kids all looked at each other excitedly. "Now, in order to win, you must both return together and alive," he told them. "The point is learning how to survive, and help each other. Now, I shall now pair you together."

"Can we choose our own partners?" Snotlout asked before Gobber could continue. He looped and arm around Astrid's shoulders. "The two of us could pretend we were the last humans on Earth." He gave her a suggestive wink. Astrid glared at him and shoved his arm off of her.

"I wouldn't go out with even if we _were_ the last people in the entire universe!" she growled at him, pressing against Hiccup's side.

"Fine," Snotlout snorted. "But if I ever have a three way, you can't be a part of it." Astrid gave him a disgusted look. There was a pause before Snotlout laughed. "I'm just kidding, yes you can." She continued glaring as he thought for a moment. "Can you bring a friend?" he asked.

Astrid gave a disgusted sigh and rolled her eyes, pressing closer to Hiccup. Then she quickly changed her mind and whirled around, punching Snotlout's lights out.

"As I was saying," Gobber continued, completely undeterred by Snotlout lying unconscious in the snow. "I will be picking your partners. It would be too easy for ya otherwise. Now then…" he looked at his students long and hard, thinking for a moment. "Okay, Astrid, you'll be paired with Fishlegs," he announced. Fishlegs gave a sigh of relief at the thought of having one of the best fighters in the class as his partner. Astrid looked slightly disappointed. "Ruffnutt, Tuffnutt, you'll be a pair." The twins let out long irritated groans and glared at each other. "And that just leaves Hiccup and Snotlout." What little color that was in Hiccup's face drained at that. Of course it would be his luck that he would be stuck with the person who hates him the most. Not only that, if Hiccup died, Snotlout would be the next in line to be chief, since he was his cousin.

"Hey!" Snotlout growled, sitting up straight in the snow. "That's not fair! Why do I have to be paired with Hiccup the Useless? He'll be dead in the first eleven minutes out there! You should at least give me a fighting chance!"

Angrily, Astrid whipped around and punched Snotlout right in the jaw for a second time.

"You'll each be given a Terrible Terror," Gobber told them, ignoring Snotlout. "They are to be used only in emergencies, like if you're so hopelessly lost you could never find your way home, or if one of you is dead or dying, they'll give off a signal so we can find you."

"Well, that's reassuring," Hiccup muttered sarcastically under his breath.

"Other than that, just pretend they're not even there," Gobber finished.

"Wait," Tuffnutt said, stepping forward. "We're not even going to be getting our dragons?"

"No," Gobber growled with a slight sigh. "The point of this test is survival and team work. Not sitting back and letting your dragon do all the work. Are we all clear?" The young Vikings all reluctantly grumbled in agreement. "Good. Now you'll all be blindfolded and mounted on a dragon who will drop you off somewhere on the island. You're job is to make it back in the fastest possible time."

Tuffnutt and Ruffnutt hopped onto their Hideous Zippleback and handed their blindfolds. Astrid mounted her Deadly Nadder before dragging Fishlegs up with her, while already blindfolded. Finally, Hiccup climbed up after Snotlout onto his Monstrous Nightmare. Before they could take off, Toothless scampered over to his friend, cooing sadly.

"Don't worry, bud," Hiccup said reassuringly. "I'll be back before you know it." He didn't feel too confident about that, but he didn't want Toothless to know that. "Try to stay out of trouble while I'm gone, Okay?"

Toothless nodded sadly and stepped back to watch as they put on their blindfolds and the Nightmare took flight. He stood with Gobber for a while, watching them and shifting on his paws restlessly. Hiccup would be back. He was sure of it.

…

…

…

Hiccup had to keep himself from falling off as the bitter wind whipped at his face. He had no idea where Snotlout's Monstrous Nightmare was taking them, since they were blindfolded. In front of him, he could hear Snotlout grumbling to himself, saying how all of this was stupid. Hiccup didn't speak for he was using all of his energy trying not freeze or fall off. Riding a dragon was one thing. Trying to ride it while blindfolded and in the middle of winter was a different thing entirely.

Before long he felt the dragon land and he was forced off its back and into the soft snow below them. Removing his blindfold, he found them in a small clearing in the middle of a forest. Groaning slightly, Hiccup slowly pulled himself to his feet and brushed the snow off his sleeves. Looking around for Snotlout, he found him face first in the snow a few feet away from him, unmoving.

"Uh, Snotlout?" Hiccup called, stepping over to him. A muffled reply was his only answer. Hiccup sighed and carefully prodded his cousin in the shoulder. Immediately Snotlout sat bolt right up.

"Huh? What day is it?" he muttered, looking around dazed. Then he shook his head and came to his senses. He stood and glared at Hiccup. "Great," he growled. "The only thing worse than being stuck in the middle of nowhere is being stuck in the middle of nowhere with_ you_."

"Yes, because I enjoy being stuck with you," Hiccup muttered angrily as the Monstrous Nightmare left them with a snort.

"Who wouldn't enjoy being stuck with me?" Snotlout replied, puffing out his chest importantly.

"Astrid," Hiccup replied simply in a bored tone. Snotlout glared at him, baring his teeth.

"Just shut up and let's get out of here," he growled, shoving Hiccup in a random direction. "I'm getting hungry. I need that feast and I can invite Astrid to dine with me."

Hiccup rolled his eyes, looking up at the sky. Seeing where the sun was starting to set and determining which way was west, he started off into the woods with Snotlout following him, thinking about his imaginary date with Astrid.

**I think that's a good place to end the chapter. Next time, we'll see some of the troubles the three groups will encounter in the forest. And Toothless has a plan up his sleeve. How long will it take before Ruffnutt and Tuffnutt try to kill each other? How will Hiccup will survive against Snotlout? What hidden dangers are in the forest? Who will win? Read and review and I may answer those questions.**


	2. Wow! Trouble Already?

**So here we are! When we last left Hiccup and Snotlout, they were just about to make their way into the forest, unaware of the dangers that are hidden inside. But what about the others? What are they up to? We'll check up on them as well as Snotlout and Hiccup. And don't worry; Toothless is going to be in the story too. You'll just have to be patient. And now enough of my rambling, on to the chapter then!**

**Chapter Two: Wow! Trouble already?**

Ruffnutt and Tuffnutt had not gotten very far before they got into an argument. In fact, they hadn't even moved from the clearing that they had been dropped off. Ruffnutt had started off in one direction and Tuffnutt told her that she had no sense of direction and that he should lead the way. Obviously, Ruffnutt wasn't going to stand for that.

"You'd get us lost before we even took three steps," Ruffnutt growled at her brother angrily.

"You're already lost," Tuffnutt snapped back, rubbing the sore spot on his head where his sister had knocked him hard on the head. "You were already going in the completely wrong direction."

"You don't know that," Ruffnutt hissed at him, raising a fist threatingly.

"Yes, I do."

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do!"

…

…

…

Hiccup slowly trudged through the knee high snow, scratching the Terrible Terror under the chin. The small dragon purred happily. He ducked to avoid low hanging branches and had half a mind not to warn Snotlout about them. His cousin was trailing a few feet away from him, bragging loudly about himself.

"You know, I would already be back by now if I didn't have you to look after," Snotlout was saying, swinging a stick around importantly. "I can't win that date with Astrid if you're not there too, you know? I think Gobber wants me to fail by sticking me with you."

"If you're so confident, then why don't you lead," Hiccup hissed through gritted teeth, glancing up at the sky. Clouds were starting to block out the sun and it was getting darker and colder.

"Why don't you stop being such a wise guy and make yourself useful?" Snotlout growled instead of answering. "Use that weird freaky power of yours and ask that dragon if we're going in the right direction."

Hiccup sighed and took the Terrible Terror, which he called "Wide-Eye" into his arms so he could be eye level with him. The small dragon flicked out its tongue, licking one of its eyeballs and cocking its head.

"_You're not supposed to get directions from me,"_ Wide-Eye informed him.

"_I know,"_ Hiccup replied with a sigh. _"I can't believe Gobber threw us out here."_

"_It's cold,"_ Wide-Eye whined. "_We dragons don't like the cold." _To emphasis his point, he let out a loud sneeze, nearly missing Hiccup's sleeve and started shivering.

"_Here,"_ Hiccup offered. _"You can keep warm in my coat."_ He took the tiny dragon and wrapped him up in the inside of his baggy fur coat, ignoring Snotlout, who was starting to brag again. He stopped, however, when Hiccup turned back to him.

"Well?" Snotlout demanded. "Are we going in the right direction?"

"Sure," Hiccup replied, shrugging his scrawny shoulders. Not waiting to let Snotlout come up with some sort of insult for him, he started off again, the dragon safely tucked away in his coat. Snotlout quickly hurried after him.

"What does Astrid see in you anyways?" he growled, waving the stick around in a frustrated manner. "I mean, I'm bigger, stronger, and a lot better looking than you are."

"I guess she's just not that in to you," Hiccup replied with annoyance, wishing they could walk just a few feet in silence. But of course Snotlout, he knew, wasn't going to give him that wish. Snotlout, in frustration, threw the stick he was holding. It soared past Hiccup's head, narrowly missing him, and hit a tree instead. The tree shook and sent several tons of snow crashing down on their heads.

After a long moment of digging themselves out, Hiccup emerged from the snow, gasping, coughing and shivering terribly. He turned to see Snotlout poke his head through the snow and scowl at him.

"Good one," he growled at his cousin. Hiccup frowned, not sure whether to reply or not. It wasn't his fault that snow fell on them. But he knew Snotlout would continue to blame him anyways and that it was a lost cause. So instead he let out a long sigh.

"Can we just get a move on?" he asked, brushing the snow off of himself. "It's starting to get dark." Without waiting for him to reply and making sure that Wide-eye was still safely tucked away in his coat, he set off again with determination.

…

…

…

"Are you sure we're not lost?" Fishlegs asked as he and Astrid trampled through the snow. Astrid was gracefully leaping over fallen tree trunks while Fishlegs slowly climbed over them with a huff. The girl stopped with a sigh as she waited for Fishlegs to catch up.

"Hurry up, Fishlegs," she commanded. "You need to stay with me. It can get easy to get lost out here." She looked up at the sky, trying to judge their direction.

"Do you even know where we're going?" Fishlegs asked with a gasp as he stood by Astrid's side, trying to catch his breath. Astrid looked down at him and sighed, trying not to get impatient. It wouldn't do either of them any good if she lost her temper. And it wasn't Fishlegs' fault that he was a little out of shape.

"Don't worry, Fishlegs," she reassured, "I'll get us home. It's just simple navigation. What we need is to find food and shelter if we're going to survive. So how about this, you get some wood and start building a fire. I'll find us something to eat."

"G-Good idea," Fishlegs sighed with relief. Even with all his fat and his thick coat he could feel the cold getting to him and chilling his bones. It was best to leave the hard stuff to Astrid.

"Don't go too far," Astrid warned him before setting off. Fishlegs slowly looked around the clearing, looking for wood that would be dry enough to burn. It was kind of hard to do when everything was covered in snow and he kept tripping every thirty seconds. A few times he would drop all of the wood in his arms. Shivering, he slowly stood and started re-gathering the wood he had re-gathered only a few moments before.

While he did that, Astrid slowly moved through the forest, looking for anything she could kill with her spear. She couldn't help but let her mind wander towards Hiccup. She hoped that he was at least still alive. She was still angry at Snotlout too. It wasn't fair that Hiccup had to be paired with that jerk. What was Gobber trying to do? Turn them all against each other? She would show that jerk Snotlout.

Astrid sighed and looked around. If Snotlout hurt Hiccup, she would never forgive him.

…

…

…

Ruffnutt and Tuffnutt were still not getting anywhere. Fortunately, they had stopped arguing enough to start moving from their starting position. Tuffnutt had taken the lead as they stumbled through the forest, trying not to trip and embarrass themselves. Tuffnutt didn't have to look back to see if his sister was still following him. He could hear her reassuring grumbling a few feet behind him.

Looking up at the sky, he couldn't see anything other than dark clouds. It was starting to snow and the light of the day had faded from the horizon. They would have to stop soon, but Tuffnutt wanted to get as far as possible before stopping. There was no way he was going to let the others win. He just wanted out of this forest.

Tuffnutt after a while noticed that he couldn't hear Ruffnutt's complaining anymore and automatically assumed that she had finally put a sock in it. Sighing, he ducked under a low hanging branch, not looking back to make sure his sister was following.

"Look Ruffnutt," he said after a while. "We shouldn't be fighting. I mean we're siblings. We have to stick together. And it'd be a lot easier to get through this place and back home if we were fighting. So what do you say? Truce?" He waited for Ruffnutt to respond, but didn't hear anything. Not even her mocking laughter or crunching of footsteps.

Annoyed, he turned around to find absolutely nothing. No Ruffnutt, nothing. Just snow and forest. Tuffnutt's eyes widened with surprise and he looked around. He gulped nervously.

"Ruffnutt?" he called. Nobody answered. He tried again, a little louder. "Ruffnutt!" Still no answer. "Where are ya, sis? If you're trying to scare me, it isn't working!" Nothing moved, not even a leaf. Tuffnutt strained his ears, but still couldn't hear anything. He couldn't even make out any foot prints other than his own. That's when he started panicking. "RUFFNUTT!"

…

…

…

Hiccup froze in his tracks. He could have sworn he had just heard a scream just now. Like someone was in pain or fear. He looked around him but saw nothing. Nothing but the darkness that was slowly starting to shroud them.

His concentration was broken though, when he felt cold snow meet the back of his head. He frowned and turned to where his cousin was standing behind him, having just chucked a snowball at him. Snotlout had been throwing snowballs at Hiccup for the past hour now, laughing every time they hit. It was kind of hard to determine what to do next when someone was constantly hitting you with snow.

"You're making this too easy, Hiccup," Snotlout laughed, gathering another handful of snow and packing it down. "I mean I know you're scrawny and all, but you're not even putting up a fight."

"That's because I'm too busy trying to determine where we are and how to get back home," Hiccup growled, slowly losing his patience. "If you would just take the time to help me, this would go a lot faster."

Instead of replying, Snotlout chucked another snowball at his cousin. Hiccup sighed and wiped the snow off his face in frustration. They were getting nowhere fast. Why couldn't he have been partnered with anyone else? He would have even taken the directionally challenged twins over his ill-tempered cousin. How were they even related again?

"_It's getting cold,"_ Wide-eye commented. "_I don't like cold. And I don't like the big kid. He's mean."_

"_I know what you mean,"_ Hiccup sighed. "_At least you're not related to him. Or have to put up with him every day."_ Almost as if on cue, Hiccup was hit in the back of the head by another snowball thrown by his dear old cousin. Taking a big breath to try to control himself, Hiccup turned to Snotlout. "Maybe we should stop for the night," he suggested. "It's getting too dark out to see and we'll get lost if we keep going."

"Fine," Snotlout replied with a sigh, a little disappointed that Hiccup wasn't making this any fun for him. "Make yourself useful and build us a fire." Then he stalked off towards a tree and sat down.

Hiccup glared furiously at him, wanting to point out that he was the one doing _everything, _but decided against it. Instead he shuffled away to try to find anything that would be good for a fire. If they didn't have a fire, there was no way they would survive the night.

As he gathered firewood, he heard something in the distance. He looked up and through the darkness, he could have sworn that he saw something watching him, but when he blinked, it was gone. A feeling of dread filled him and chilled his bones deeper than the snow. He shivered. They were not alone in this forest. Someone or something was out there, just waiting for them. He could feel it.

**This is a good place to stop. At a cliff hanger. I like cliff hangers. They usually mean that the author has a plan and they'll update faster. With this, I didn't want chapters of nothing happening and then a cliff hanger. It moves the story along faster this way.**

**What happened to Ruffnutt? Is this really some prank she decided to pull on Tuffnutt? And why didn't her brother notice sooner that she wasn't there? Will Snotlout and Hiccup ever get along? What else is out there? And what sick and twisted thing do I have in store for Astrid and Fishlegs? What will happen next? Read and review or you'll never know!**


	3. Things get tense

**I think it's time to update again! I want to thank everyone for your wonderful reviews of the first two chapters. Especially you! (You know who you are!) When we last left off, Ruffnutt was missing and Hiccup had a feeling that they were not alone in the woods. What will happen to everyone now? Will Hiccup **_**ever **_**get Snotlout to listen to him? And what terribly sick and twisted things will I make happen to Fishlegs and Astrid? Well, you'll just have to keep reading to find out!**

**Chapter Three: Things get Tense**

Hiccup picked a tree to settle down under as he stared at the blazing fire he had made (with absolutely no help from Snotlout, of course). Their Terrible Terror had emerged from his coat and had snuggled up by the fire, enjoying its warmth. Snotlout had taken a seat on the other side of the campfire, as far away from Hiccup as he could possibly get. And he was complaining of hunger.

"Man," Snotlout complained loudly, rubbing his empty belly. "I'm starving! Why couldn't Gobber have given us some food before he threw us out in the woods? I'm so hungry I could eat a dragon!"

"Then go find something to eat," Hiccup suggested calmly, pulling his knees to his chest and closing his eyes. "I'm sure you could catch something." He was too tired at the moment to feel hungry, and he would gladly give any reason to get even a few minutes away from his cousin.

Snotlout glared at him, as if he was annoyed just by hearing the sound of Hiccup's voice. "Don't tell me what to do," he growled. "Besides, I was just about to suggest that myself." He stood up, wrapping his coat around him tighter. "Stay here," he ordered. "I, being the smarter and tougher of the two of us, will catch us a meal."

Hiccup rolled his eyes but didn't say anything. He didn't feel like trying to defend himself against his brutish cousin, especially since he knew he couldn't win. He was more surprised that Snotlout was actually _doing_ anything. Instead he sighed and leaned back against the tree as Snotlout stomped away. He was still pretty sure that was something out there, and it would be better if his cousin found it first. Snotlout was big and strong, he could look after himself. But even still…

"Be careful out there," Hiccup called after him, on the off chance that Snotlout would actually listen. Snotlout stopped in his tracks and turned back to his cousin.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he growled at him. Hiccup sighed.

"Nothing," he replied. "Never mind." Then he closed his eyes once more while Snotlout left to hunt. Sometimes he wondered if one of them had been adopted or something. There was no way the two of them were related. Those were Hiccup's thoughts as he slowly drifted off into sleep.

It was a scream that woke Hiccup up. Sitting up bolt up, he looked around the clearing. The fire was still burning, but it had lowered to a gentle flame. The Terrible Terror had curled up and fallen asleep. But the one thing that was missing was Snotlout. He was nowhere to be seen.

"Snotlout?" Hiccup called nervously, standing up. All was quiet for a moment.

"Hiccup, Help!" came Snotlout's cry off in the distance.

Hiccup stood and ran off in the direction that he had heard the cry. It was easy enough to follow Snotlout's footsteps. Even though it had been snowing, his cousin had humongous feet and wouldn't be covered by snow too quickly. He eventually came to a place where he lost track of the footsteps. Mainly because the ground was covered by fallen trees and there were footprints going in all directions. Hiccup looked around uncertainly.

"Snotlout?" he called. "Where are you?" Nobody answered.

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a huge snowball went flying hard into Hiccup's face, felling him to the ground. He was bombarded by several more snowballs and it was all he could do to cover his head from the assault. Then, he suddenly heard laughter from behind one of the trees.

He looked up and spotted Snotlout standing there, perfectly fine and holding a snowball triumphantly in his hand. He was sneering down at Hiccup, barely being able to hold in his laughter to speak.

"Man!" he crowed. "I can't believe you fell for that! You're so gullible, I swear!" Then Snotlout doubled over laughing. "You should have seen the look on your face! It was priceless! Ha ha ha!" Then he stopped. "Hey! Where are you going?"

For Hiccup had angrily stood and brushed the snow off his sleeves before turning and storming back the way he had come. Snotlout hurriedly dropped the snow he was carrying and hurried after him. Hiccup ignored his cousin as he ran up beside him with a huff.

"Man, what's with you?" he growled at him. "Can't you take a joke? You're such a whiner sometimes."

"No, Snotlout," Hiccup snapped, not looking at him. "I can't seem to accept the fact that the one time I chose to care about my only cousin rewarded me with snow in my face. I thought you might have been in trouble! That was really low, even for you."

"Well that's what you get for being so gullible," Snotlout replied with a shrug, not hearing the anger in Hiccup's voice. "You should know by now that out here it's every man for himself."

"Fine," Hiccup replied. "Then the next time you call for help, I won't be there to save you, whether you're actually in danger or not."

"That's ridiculous!" Snotlout snorted. "Like I would ever need saving from you! There's no way I would ever be crying for help for real." He slapped Hiccup upside the head. "I'm Snotlout! I don't need saving from anyone!"

…

…

…

One could say that Tuffnutt was having a worse night than anyone else at the moment. Even worse than what Hiccup was putting up with. First of all, Tuffnutt was completely alone with only a Terrible Terror on his shoulder who was no help at all. It was getting terribly dark and Tuffnutt could barely see his hand in front of him. This was a problem, considering he was trying to retrace his steps to find where he had first lost his sister. And to make matters worse, Tuffnutt could swear it was getting colder.

"This is ridiculous," Tuffnutt growled to himself, rubbing his arms to try and keep warm. "Where could she have possibly gone? There's no way she could have gotten lost, could she?" The dragon on his shoulder gave a long yawn but didn't say anything. Tuffnutt sighed. "Maybe we should send for help?" The Terrible Terror looked at him, wide-eyed. Tuffnutt shook his head. "You're right. A Viking doesn't cry for help at the first problem he encounters! I'd be a laughing stalk! I'll find Ruffnutt by myself."

With a satisfied nod, Tuffnutt started off again, this time low to the ground, as it was getting harder and harder to discern his footprints. He had gone quite a ways without seeing any other pair of footprints and he was beginning to feel bad about how long he had gone without realizing his sister was no longer following him. Once or twice he thought he saw something that might have been Ruffnutt or her footprints, but they were just false alarms.

Eventually, as he entered a clearing and was just thinking about giving up on his search entirely, he found something in the ground. It was faint from being covered in falling snow, but Tuffnutt knew immediately what it was. There was no doubt about it. Ruffnutt's footprints. Tuffnutt could recognize them from the over sized boots she wore.

"Oh thank the Gods," Tuffnutt sighed with relief. All he had to do now was follow these footprints and they would eventually lead to his sister. Only there was one slight problem.

The footprints led to a dead end. One moment they were there, and a few steps later, they were gone. Almost as if she had disappeared from the Earth entirely.

"No, that's ridiculous," Tuffnutt growled to himself. "There has to be some sort of explanation. But what could it be? Did she get carried away by something?" He hoped that wasn't it. Anxiously he tried again. "RUFFNUTT! WHERE ARE YOU!" But if she had heard, she didn't answer.

Tuffnutt swirled around on the spot. Now he had nothing to go on. Not even his own footprints which were quickly covered by the snow that was coming down. Then he suddenly got an idea. He knew Gobber would yell at him for using the dragon, but at the moment, he didn't care. He took the Terrible Terror off his shoulder and looked it directly in the eye.

"All right dragon," he said as calmly as he could. "I know it's against the rules, but that doesn't matter anymore. I need you to sniff these footprints and lead us to my sister." The Terrible Terror cocked his head at him as if considering it. Tuffnutt wished he could speak Dragonese like Hiccup could and made a mental note in his head to ask him to teach him when he got back.

_If I get back,_ Tuffnutt thought bitterly. Finally, to his relief, the dragon relinquished. The Terror leaped down from his arms and started sniffing Ruffnutt's fading footprints. After a moment, the small dragon leaped up in the air and started soaring away, cocking his head in a gesture of inviting Tuffnutt to follow it. Tuffnutt quickly scrambled after it, stumbling a few times in the snow. _This had better work_, he thought to himself as they set on their way once more.

…

…

…

Astrid sighed with slight annoyance as she marched through the snow, hacking and slashing anything in her path with her axe. Fishlegs was trailing several feet behind her, complaining about his tired legs. It had been Astrid's idea to get up early, so they could cover more ground and warm themselves up. But at the pace they were going, she was certain the others would be able to catch up quite quickly.

It also didn't help that they were being chased by a hungry, man-eating monster bear. These were not like regular bears. These things wouldn't stop attacking until their prey was dead. This was a problem when you were just two small teenagers, trying to outrun something like that in knee high snow. The monster bear was some distance behind them, but Astrid knew they wouldn't be able to out run it for very long.

Turning and throwing her pack onto the ground, Astrid drew her axe. "Come on, Fishlegs," she growled. "We're going to fight this thing."

"Are you nuts?" Fishlegs gasped, coming to stand next to her and holding onto her shoulder as he attempted to regain his breath. The only weapon he had thought to bring with him was his pathetic little sword, which was actually more of a dagger. Even Hiccup had been more prepared.

"That thing's going to catch us eventually," Astrid argued. "Now come on! Are you a Viking or a mouse?"

"If I say mouse, will I still have to fight it?" Fishlegs asked nervously, holding out his sad little sword in front of him. Astrid rolled her eyes but didn't answer. She had more important things to worry about. Like not getting eaten.

"Back me up, Fishlegs," she ordered her companion. And then with a mighty Viking yell, she ran to meet the beast head on, axe held high over her head. Fishlegs gave a weaker yell and followed her more slowly. One giant monster against two little kids. It was going to be close.

…

…

…

Tuffnutt had almost given up all his hope. He was almost convinced that the little dragon had just as much clue where it was going as he did. He would love to ask it if they were almost there yet, but he wasn't sure if it would be able to understand him. So he was just going to have to hope against all hopes that the dragon knew what it was doing.

After what seemed like forever, the little Terrible Terror stopped and looked around quizzically. The Terrible Terror turned and gave Tuffnutt a loud squawk before scampering off again. Tuffnutt raced after it. Did the Dragon find something?

It had found something all right. Lying a few feet in the middle of the clearing was a pile of freshly fallen snow. The Dragon scampered over to it and gave it a satisfied sniff. Tuffnutt sighed and padded over to it. Carefully, he started brushing away the snow as the dragon did the same. Finally he stopped and gave a loud gasp.

Lying there nearly frozen in the snow, completely unconscious, was Ruffnutt.

**Gasp! What could have possibly had happened to Ruffnutt? And will Astrid and Fishlegs be able to defeat the monster attacking them? What else do I have in store for our heroes? Why is Snotlout such a jerk? Why am I asking you all of these questions? Even I don't know what's going to happen! But if you want to find out more, there's only one way to do it. Read and review. Because if you don't review, then I don't write. And if nobody wrote, would cease to exist. Sad indeed. So review or else!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned How To Train Your Dragon, I wouldn't be writing this on a website, would I?**


	4. This Challenge really sucks!

**I'm starting the next chapter now before I lose it! I'm on a role! Whoo!**

**When we last left everyone, Hiccup and Snotlout were mad at each other, Astrid and Fishlegs were about to fight a giant monster, and Tuffnutt had just found his sister, unconscious and barely alive. What will happen next? Let's find out!**

**Chapter Four: This Challenge really sucks!**

For a moment, Tuffnutt truly believed that Ruffnutt was dead. But when he saw the faint rise and fall of her chest, he heaved a huge sigh of relief. That wasn't to say that Ruffnutt wasn't _going _to die. Her face and lips were blue and blood was turning the white snow red from a deep wound on her chest. It was a wonder that she was alive at all.

"Good job, Dragon," Tuffnutt breathed to the Terrible Terror. "At least we found her. Now all we have to do is keep her alive and we'll be home free."

_Or at least we won't be any worse than when we started, _Tuffnutt thought to himself. Looking around for something to wrap his sister's wound in and finding nothing, Tuffnutt sighed and tore off a sleeve of his shirt. He carefully wrapped the cloth around the wound, having absolutely no idea whether he was doing it right or not.

"Okay," Tuffnutt said mostly to himself. "Now all we have to do is start a fire and get her warm. And hopefully I will have thought of something better to do by then." The Dragon cocked his head at him as if to say "You mean _you're _going to do all that, right?" Tuffnutt glared at it. "Fine!" he growled. "I'll start the fire. At least keep my sister warm, ok?"

The dragon could at least do that. It bounced over to the unconscious Ruffnutt and blew a small fire before snuggling up next to her. Tuffnutt couldn't remember the last time he had to care for his sister this much. Thinking back, he was sure there wasn't a last time.

"This challenge really sucks," he growled to himself, as he trudged off to find wood to start a fire with. If they ever got out of this alive, he was going to have some choice words for Gobber. Whether or not he was actually going to say them to his face was a different matter.

…

…

…

"This challenge really sucks," Astrid growled as she just barely managed to dodge the bear monster's claws. The monster bear had coated armor on its chest and head and long curved nails for slashing things with. It came with razor sharp teeth and titanic strength. It was all Astrid could do to fend off its ferocious attacks.

Fishlegs tried to help. He really did. But he wasn't nearly as fit as Astrid, nor as strong, and there was no real hope of him being much of help. But that wasn't going to stop him from trying. He tried to think of it in the way he thought of fighting dragons. Like a role playing game. Only it was a lot harder, since it wasn't a dragon.

"We need a new tactic," Astrid huffed, landing near Fishlegs, and holding onto one of her sides. "I'll attack from one side while you distract it from the other side."

"Got it," said Fishlegs with a lot more confidence than he actually felt. He ran off in one direction while Astrid ran off in the other, waving his hands widely in the air. "Hey you over grown flea bag!" he called, tripping slightly. "Over here!"

The monster turned and locked him in its glare, slowly starting towards him with its long claws in the air. It let out a ferocious roar and charged at him, causing Fishlegs to scream and run, dropping his sword in the process. The monster didn't get very far because at that moment, Astrid chose to lob off its head with her axe. The creature went down in an instant, its lifeless, headless body still in an attack stance. The roaring head flew a few feet and landed in Fishlegs' hands.

"Monster head!" he screamed, dropping it in the snow and tripping, falling backwards.

"Good job, Fishlegs," Astrid told him, wiping her axe off on the beast's body. "That was very brave of you." She took a step forward but suddenly fell into the snow with a slight groan of pain.

"Astrid!" Fishlegs called, running over to her. Carefully shuffling around the dead creature, he reached Astrid's side and grabbed one of her arms for support. "Are you all right?"

"It's my stupid ankle," she hissed angrily through gritted teeth. "I think I twisted it while fighting that monster." She let out a sigh. "What are we going to do? I can't walk like this! Let alone fight!"

Fishlegs shivered at the thought of more of these beasts attacking them that would require them to continue fighting. He shook his head determinedly. There was no way he was going to leave Astrid here. What kind of friend would he be otherwise?

"Don't worry Astrid," Fishlegs told her. "I'll carry you on my back! I won't leave you behind!"

"Are you sure?" Astrid asked, looking up at him.

"I'm sure," Fishlegs replied, nodding. _It would be a lot easier than anything else that we've had to do so far in this stupid challenge, _he thought to himself. Astrid sighed and allowed Fishlegs to bend down in front of her so she could carefully scramble onto his back.

"Now let's get out of here before something terrible happens," Astrid ordered as Fishlegs sauntered over to pick up the sword he had dropped.

"Knowing our luck, something bad is definitely going to happen," Fishlegs replied miserably, slowly making his way forward in what he hoped was the right direction.\

…

…

…

Hiccup was having a horrible time. When he and his cousin had returned to the campsite, they had found the entire place destroyed. There stuff had been shredded and the fire had been put out. The Terrible Terror was sitting in the snow shivering, having just woken up and realized how terribly cold it was. Claw marks raked the trees nearby. This was not the work of man.

"What did you do to our campsite?" Snotlout growled, hitting Hiccup hard in the head. Hiccup turned to him angrily.

"What are you talking about?" he asked. "I didn't do this! Why would I? This was obviously the work of some sort of beast or something." Not waiting for Snotlout's reply, he shuffled over to the shivering Wide-Eye and pulled him away from the snow. "_Do you know what happened?"_ he asked it.

"_N-N-No," _the small dragon replied. "_I've been asleep the entire time. I only woke up because I realized how cold it was. It was like this when I woke."_

"Well what did do this?" Snotlout asked with a hint of worry in his voice. He was not usually this unprepared for something. Usually he was right on top stuff like this, with an answer for everything.

"How should I know?" Hiccup asked, moving around the place to look for anything that wasn't damaged. "But I do know that we need to get moving as quickly as we can."

"What? Are you nuts?" Snotlout growled. "Can't we wait until there's sunlight? I'm tired!"

"Whatever did this to our camp could come back and do the same thing to us," Hiccup argued. "We need to get out of here before it finds us. Unless you want to be shredded to pieces?"

"No," Snotlout replied. Even he had to admit that Hiccup had a good point there. There was no way he wanted to meet whatever had destroyed their camp. He gave a shake of his head and puffed out his chest to look more confident.

The two boys quickly packed up their stuff, damaged or not, and set off again. That had been hours ago. Now the sun was starting to shine and Hiccup was starting to lose his confidence. They hadn't seen or heard anything yet, and he wasn't sure if they were even going in the right direction.

Snotlout followed a few paces behind him. He had gathered a huge armful of snow and had been spending a good two hours tossing as many snowballs as he could at the back of Hiccup's head. Every time he ran out of snow, he would quickly stoop over and scoop up another armload of snow. Hiccup tried to ignore him, but that was hard to do when cold wet snow met the back of his head every five seconds.

Hiccup was almost about to snap and turn around to tell Snotlout to give it a rest already when something suddenly caught his eye in the ground. Something that was very unpleasant.

"Hey Snotlout," Hiccup called, bending over. "Come look at this."

Snotlout sighed and dropped the snow he was carrying, marching over to his cousin's side. What he saw made the snide sneer drop from his face. It was a giant footprint, nearly twice the size of the two boys. The two of them glanced at each other and Hiccup could tell that they were thinking the same thing.

There was no way they were alone. And there was definitely no doubt that they wanted to meet the owner of such a large footprint.

"How could something so large live in this forest without us seeing it?" Hiccup muttered to himself. "Unless it was able to blend into the snow."

"So what?" Snotlout growled. "We're up against a snow dragon or something? That's just great, Hiccup! Like we could actually stand a chance against something like that!"

"I didn't say that," Hiccup replied. "And we won't have to face it, if we can help it. We just have to be extra careful, that's all."

"Oh is _that_ all?" Snotlout grumbled to himself as they set off again. Their progress was hindered because it was at that moment the weather decided to turn nasty and the snow started plummeting with the wind howling. The wind was blowing so hard, they could barely take one step forward without the threat of being blown backwards. Hiccup could swear that it was calling their names.

"I hope Astrid and Fishlegs are having a better time than us," Hiccup muttered under his breath. His words were carried away with the wind before they even reached his own ears. He thought he had heard Snotlout shout something at him, but he wasn't too sure with the wind roaring in his ears.

He was forced to a halt when Snotlout lashed out and grabbed the hood of his coat, cutting off his breathing. He turned around to face him.

"WHAT!" he called to him above the wind. Snotlout just barely hear him.

"I SAID GREAT IDEA TO START MOVING AGAIN!" Snotlout hollered. "NOW WE'RE STUCK IN A SNOWSTORM!"

"IT'S NOT MY FAULT!" Hiccup cried back. "WE WOULD HAVE BEEN STUCK IN THIS STORM ANYWAYS! BESIDES, HAVE YOU GOT ANY BETTER IDEAS!"

Snotlout had to admit that he did not. But that wasn't going to stop him from yelling at his cousin anyways.

"HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO KNOW IF SOMETHING'S SNEAKING UP ON US NOW!" he growled. "AT THIS RATE, EVEN A WHALE COULD ATTACK US AND WE WOULD NEVER SEE IT COMING!"

"I'LL THINK OF SOMETHING!" Hiccup promised. Not that he had any confidence. He wasn't even sure if they were going to make it to the next hill alive. It wasn't looking too good at this point.

Unbeknownst to them, something _had_ been sneaking up on them. Something black, and catlike in figure with curious green eyes. Hiccup didn't see it coming until it had tackled him to the ground and started madly licking his face in happiness.

"TOOTHLESS!" Hiccup gasped when he could open his eyes again.

"WHAT'S YOUR DRAGON DOING HERE!" Snotlout called over the wind, squinting through the blizzard.

"I HAVEN'T GOT THE SLIGHTEST CLUE!" Hiccup replied, trying to stand. It was quite hard to do with Toothless keeping one paw on his chest. _"TOOTHLESS, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!"_

"_I WAS WORRIED," _Toothless replied, keeping his nose close to Hiccup's face. "_I COULDN'T STAND NOT KNOWING WHAT WAS HAPPENING SO FOLLOWED YOUR SCENT. WELL, I FOLLOWED YOUR COUSIN'S SCENT. HIS POWERFUL REEK IS A LOT EASIER TO FIND!"_

"_I'M GLAD YOU'RE HERE, TOOTHLESS," _Hiccup told him with a grin. "_BUT YOU CAN'T HELP US, OKAY? WE WANT TO WIN THIS THING FAIR AND SQUARE! DEAL!"_

"_DEAL," _ Toothless relented with a sigh. "_BUT IF SOMETHING BAD HAPPENS, I WON'T BE ABLE TO HOLD BACK. AFTER ALL, YOU'RE TRYING TO SURVIVE. AND DOESN'T SURVIVING MEAN TAKING ADVANTAGE OF EVERYTHING YOU HAVE! YOU DIDN'T ASK ME TO FOLLOW YOU!"_

"_YOU DO HAVE A POINT THERE," _Hiccup said, struggling to keep his voice above the wind. Yelling had never been one of Hiccup's strong points, and having to make himself heard was really taking its toll on his throat. He turned back to Snotlout, who wasn't able to follow the conversation due to his inability to speak Dragonese.

"WELL!" Snotlout hollered.

"HE WAS WORRIED ABOUT ME!" Hiccup replied after taking a huge breath. "BUT DON'T WORRY; HE SAID HE WON'T HELP US CHEAT UNLESS IT'S REALLY NECESSARY!"

"YES, BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT I REALLY WANTED TO HEAR!" Snotlout growled. "KNOWING THAT A DRAGON IS HERE TO **NOT **HELP US!"

"GET OVER IT!" was all Hiccup cried before setting off again. Toothless kept one wing outstretched in front of them to keep the wind and snow from blowing them away. But it made it harder for the dragon to move or get blown away himself. Hiccup kept a hand on his side and the small party trudged forward. Hiccup was relieved to have Toothless there. If anything could keep whatever was in that forest at bay, it was a Night Fury.

Snotlout followed close behind his cousin, glancing nervously over his shoulder every now and then to make sure they weren't being followed. He felt a little more confident now that Hiccup's dragon was with them, but he wasn't as sure as Hiccup if Toothless could really frighten off whatever was out there. That, and the fact that Toothless was there meant that he couldn't just have his fun of tormenting his cousin and get away with it any more.

"This challenge really sucks," Snotlout grumbled to himself.

**I'm really surprised. This is the only one of my fan fictions that I update on a regular basis. Most of my other fan fictions take forever for me to update. Maybe it's just because I've been in this funk recently where all I can do is write about **_**How to Train Your Dragon**_**. If you have several hundred obsessions like I do, you'll understand where I'm coming from.**

**Anyways, I'm really pleased with how this fan fiction and this chapter turned out. Toothless has finally arrived! I like to think of Toothless and Hiccup's relationship is more personal and on a best friend level than that of a pet. Toothless would do anything to protect Hiccup and Hiccup would do the same. And that's going to come in handy later on. Because not only is there one thing in the forest, there are several things, stalking each group, waiting until they're the most vulnerable. Will any of them survive? You'll just have to wait and find out. And review. Because reviews are like precious oxygen to writers like me. If we don't get enough, we die.**


	5. Are we there yet?

**The great news is that if I get just a few more reviews, this fan fiction will have just as many reviews as my other fan fiction, through my Eyes. So thank you very much, guys! You're all awesome! Especially you! And you. Not you though…**

**The only thing that really annoys me is the fact that Astrid was created for the sole purpose of being the love interest. I like Astrid, but it's annoying when all movies have to have a freaking romance in it. Too bad I love the movie anyways so I can't really complain.**

**I'm also mad at for putting How to Train Your Dragon in the movies section when it was a book series first. Nag nag nag, blah blah blah…**

**Chapter Five: Are we there yet?**

Any other time, Fishlegs would have really valued the teamwork between him and Astrid. Any other time, he would have bragged to the others how easily they took down foes with their perfect fighting system. Any other time, Fishlegs wouldn't have been running for his life from vicious monsters who wanted to eat them with an injured Astrid on his back, spitting venom at nearly everything that moved.

"Come on, Fishlegs!" Astrid cried. "Why are you running from them?"

"Because unlike you, I don't want to be eaten!" Fishlegs replied with a huff. Another reptile like monster leaped at them with a hiss and Astrid chopped its head off with her axe and a howl.

"Come on, Fishlegs," Astrid growled. "We can take them!"

"I don't know about you but I don't want to test that theory of yours," Fishlegs huffed. "Unfortunately I don't have the same level of confidence as you. I think we'd have a better chance of survival if we just keep running."

"We'd have a better chance if you'd just turn around so I can get a clear shot at them," Astrid replied.

It was actually a lot harder running with the girl on his back than Fishlegs initially thought. It didn't help that it seemed like everything in the forest picked that moment to attack them. And Astrid was almost purely muscle. Fishlegs made a mental note to warn Hiccup about that. It also didn't help that every few seconds Astrid would attempt to jump from his back so that she could face the creatures head on. Fishlegs had to keep a firm hold on her legs.

"Fishlegs, I can't kill them if you run away like that!" Astrid growled as she just barely missed hitting a rabid razor fanged viper. Fishlegs took no notice of her, but just kept on running. One thought dominated his others. Getting out of there alive. Then another thought occurred to him.

_I am so glad I'm not Hiccup, _he thought bitterly.

…

…

…

Hours later, Ruffnutt had still not stirred. Tuffnutt was starting to get desperate. He wasn't sure what to do. Should he stay where he was and hope that his sister woke up soon? Or should he start moving again? The worst he could do was having the Terrible Terror call for help. Gobber had told them that as soon as they called for help, they were disqualified; out of the contest. Tuffnutt knew that Ruffnutt would never forgive him if he did that, even if it _was_ to save her life.

"_I would rather die than let you get us disqualified," _he could hear his sister snarl in his head.

So that just left option one and two. He knew that waiting for Ruffnutt to wake up was hopeless so he went with option two: getting the heck out of there. Giving a long sigh, Tuffnutt snuffed out the last of the fire and carefully scooped his sister into his arms. He almost fell over in the process. Ruffnutt was a lot heavier than she looked.

Tuffnutt slowly set off in a random direction. His progress was slow. He tried as hard as he could to step lightly in the snow so he wouldn't jolt his sister. But Vikings were not built to be gentle. They were built to be the opposite of gentle. Well, except Hiccup. Hiccup, it seemed, was built to be the opposite of Vikings. Tuffnutt really had trouble trying to figure out how he managed to do it. Do everything gently, that is.

"I can't believe Gobber did this to us," he growled to himself. "Its stuff like this is why there have been fewer and fewer fighters. They all get killed by frostbite because Gobber thought it would be funny to just throw them out in the woods and tell them that their pride as Vikings was on the line."

He looked down at his unconscious sister and wondered what terrible monster could have possibly done this to her. Whatever it was, he knew he didn't want to meet it. In his head he could hear his sister scolding him for thinking that.

"_Aren't you even going to try to avenge me?"_ he could just hear her mocking voice growl at him.

"_Not if it means getting killed," _Tuffnutt thought to himself. _"In case you haven't noticed, Ruffnutt's voice, this test is all about survival."_

"_Coward," _was all the imaginary voice said. Tuffnutt sighed.

"Fine," he hissed out loud to his unconscious sister. "We'll find the beast that did this to you. Happy?"

Of course Ruffnutt didn't reply because she was still in a deep slumber, recovering from the terrible wound on her chest. Tuffnutt growled to himself and started trudging off, wondering just how exactly he was supposed to find this beast, let alone get out of the forest alive.

…

…

…

Hiccup knew there was something out there. He was sure of it now. He, Snotlout, and Toothless had stopped to rest when the wind had died down enough to stop. Toothless had curled himself around the two boys so that they were protected by the howling, relentless wind. The three of them were exhausted from their trek. Hiccup didn't know if they were any closer to their goal than they had previously been. He didn't even know if they were going the right way.

"_Just trust your judgment,"_ Toothless advised, giving a great big yawn and revealing his forked tongue.

"_I know," _Hiccup replied with a sigh. "_But the last time I trusted my judgment, I ended up with snow in my face. And my cousin laughing at me because of it."_

"_Well that's just because Snotlout is a jerk," _Toothless replied with a snort. _"Anybody else would have really been in danger."_

Hiccup laughed. He didn't know what he would do if Toothless wasn't here with him. He would have been at Snotlout's mercy. At least now he could at least put up with his terrible cousin. He looked up at the sky and sighed.

"_I hope Astrid and Fishlegs are ok," _he mused to himself. Toothless blinked at him.

"_I could fly off and look for them for you,"_ he suggested. "_You know, just to make sure they're safe."_

"_And leave me here with Snotlout?" _Hiccup snorted. "_No thanks! Beside, Astrid would never forgive me if she thought I was worried about her. I know she can take care of herself and Fishlegs."_

Toothless shrugged his massive shoulders and closed his green eyes. Hiccup sighed and leaned against the dragon, trying to reclaim his energy. He knew he was going to need it. Unfortunately, Snotlout had decided to do something differently.

Scooping up a huge armful of snow, Snotlout tip-toed over to his cousin with a huge smirk. Making sure that Toothless was indeed asleep, he grabbed Hiccup by the collar and forced the snow down his shirt with a cruel laugh. Normally, this wouldn't be as terrible as some of the other things Snotlout had done to him. But the Terrible Terror, at that moment, had been taking a nice nap inside Hiccup's shirt. As soon as the cold snow hit the tiny dragon, he went crazy. Hiccup screamed in pain as Wide-Eye scrambled around his body, scratching, biting and letting loose small flames.

Toothless's eyes snapped open and he immediately pounced at Snotlout, who was rolling around in the snow, laughing. Even with one paw on his chest and the angry dragon growling threateningly at him couldn't stop him from laughing. Hiccup had fallen into the snow and had barely managed to pull the tiny dragon out by his tail.

"Man!" Snotlout laughed. "That was funnier than I imagined!"

Ignoring his cousin's fits of laughter, Hiccup slowly stood up and undid his jacket. He pulled off his shirt and let out a groan when he saw the damage the Terrible Terror had done to him. His entire chest was covered in scratches and burns. He and Toothless glared accusingly at Snotlout as the Terrible Terror landed on Hiccup's shoulder, looking guilty.

"Well," Snotlout said calmly, a smirk on his face. "Look on the bright side. Isn't it great that I dumped snow down your shirt now? It will cool the burns!"

"I wouldn't have these burns if you hadn't dumped snow down my shirt in the first place!" Hiccup hissed furiously at him. Snotlout snickered.

"Yeah," he laughed, looking quite proud of himself. Hiccup glared at him as he started to pull his shirt back on. It was freezing enough without Snotlout's antics. He just wished they could go at least five minutes without Snotlout torturing him. Even with Toothless by his side, that seemed quite impossible.

"_I know how we could get him back," _Toothless told Hiccup with a sly grin. Hiccup sighed.

"_We're not leaving him behind to freeze to death," _the boy told the dragon with a reluctant sigh. _"No matter how tempting it is."_

"_Oh come on!" _Toothless replied. "_Nobody will miss him! They'll never know he was gone!"_

"_No."_

Hiccup knew Toothless was joking, (or at least he hoped he was joking) but it did make him feel a little better, thinking about what they could do to get back at his horrible cousin. It managed to distract him from the problems around them, like the fact that they could be lost, or that something was out there.

Toothless had his ears perked up; listening for any potential dangers while leaving one threatening eye on Snotlout in case he thought of doing anything else. Snotlout ignored the big dragon and leaned against a tree, looking extremely pleased with himself. Hiccup leaned back against Toothless with a long sigh.

He had a feeling that they were still being followed. He knew that it wasn't just Toothless who had been following them. And he had a feeling that whatever it was, it was getting closer. There was a feeling of foreboding in the air. It made Hiccup shiver, though whether from the cold or something he wasn't sure.

_What's it waiting for?_ He wondered, looking up at the sky. The Terrible Terror had curled up in Hiccup's lap and had gone back to sleep, this time making sure to keep his wings wrapped over his head. Hiccup hoped they got back to the village soon. He wasn't sure how much more of Snotlout he could take. _Please Thor, _he sent a prayer up to the heavens. _Please let me find the strength to get out of here alive._

**For some reason, I had a longer time finishing this chapter. Don't worry; the action's getting closer and closer. Actually, one of the groups is going to run into trouble in the next chapter. (beside Fishlegs and Astrid, of course. They're already up to their necks in trouble.) I also have a bit of a cold, so it may take a while to update again. In the mean time, you can check out my other How to Train Your Dragon fan fiction if you haven't already!**


	6. Snow Dragons

**I'm thinking of spending all day today updating my fan fictions. I really have nothing better to do than this anyways; classes don't start until the 18****th****. So I decided that How to Survive the Wilderness needed updating the most. I'm sure people are getting really angry by now. I'm updating so please don't form an angry mob around my house and demand that I update now. I couldn't sleep last night because of it (but not really).**

**So anyways, something terrible is going to happen to the groups today. No more suspense, now it's time for action. Who's going to be attacked first? What's going to happen? You're just going to have to read and find out.**

**Chapter Six: Snow Dragons**

Snotlout let out a silent annoyed sigh as they trekked on. He could have sworn that Hiccup was slowing them down on purpose. He was probably just jealous because he knew that Snotlout would easily win Astrid's heart if they won. That was so like Hiccup to only think about himself.

He turned back to see his cousin quite away behind him, shivering and keeping his head down. Toothless followed close to his master, cooing worriedly every now and then. Hiccup would just mumble something in a low voice. Snotlout rolled his eyes and turned back around. It had been around an hour since Snotlout had insisted on taking the lead since Hiccup was slowing down. Not that this was any better. Snotlout had to keep stopping just to wait for his cousin to catch up. They were never going to win at this rate!

"What's keeping you back there?" Snotlout hollered back to his cousin. The wind had picked up again, but not nearly as bad it was before. When he got no reply, he turned back around to face Hiccup, only to find the boy leaning against his dragon, his eyes closed and his breathing shallow. Sighing, Snotlout stomped back over to his cousin. "Now what's wrong?" he growled.

"It's just getting hard to move is all," Hiccup's voice was barely audible against the roar of the wind. Toothless growled something and Hiccup looked at him. "There is nothing wrong with me, Toothless. I just need to rest for a minute."

"We don't have a minute!" Snotlout replied, throwing his hands up in the air. "The others could already be back by now! I'll bet Ruffnutt and Tuffnutt are already back, and they have the sense of directions of a newborn!"

Toothless glared at him, but didn't say anything and Hiccup let out a sigh. Now that Snotlout looked at him, he could see that his cousin looked like he would pass out at any second. He blinked at him, but Hiccup refused to look him in the eye.

"Man, you don't look so good," Snotlout observed, with a hint of concern in his voice. That didn't mean they were going to stop any time soon though. Snotlout felt like they were so close to camp now, he could almost taste it. "You can rest when we get back to Berk," he decided, starting off again. Hiccup let out a long sigh.

"Thanks for the concern, Snotlout," he muttered under his breath. He was about to follow his cousin, when suddenly he heard a noise off in the distance. It sounded like a roar, and it sounded angry. And as he listened, Hiccup knew that it was coming closer. Whoever that roar belonged to, it was on their trail. Beside him, Toothless stiffened.

"_What's wrong?" _Hiccup asked his dragon companion. Toothless gave a quick sniff.

"_We need to hurry along quickly," _the dragon explained. "_I know that roar. It belongs to a Snow Dragon."_

"_Snow Dragon?" _Hiccup asked, shivering slightly. He wrapped his coat around himself tighter. Wide-Eye popped out from underneath and looked at him.

"_Snow Dragons are vicious creatures,"_ the Terrible Terror explained. _"They'll eat just about anything. And once they have their sights on their prey, they won't stop chasing it until it's dead."_

"_They savagely tear their victims apart," _Toothless added, nodding. _"They're dangerous. And we need to get out of here as fast as we can."_

"_Agreed," _Hiccup replied. He trudged quickly up to his cousin ahead and retold what the two dragons had told him. Snotlout stopped and listened for a moment. They heard the roar again, but it was softer.

"You're sure that's a Snow Dragon?" Snotlout asked, trying to look unconcerned, but failing.

"That's what Toothless said," Hiccup answered. "He thinks we should get out of here as fast as we can."

"I couldn't agree more," Snotlout replied, setting off again.

Hiccup stared around at the trees before following him. He didn't tell Toothless or Snotlout how terrible he was feeling. Being smaller and skinny made him more affected by the cold than his cousin. He felt like he could barely take a few steps before he would collapse from exhaustion, but he wasn't about to tell the others that. He didn't want Toothless worrying about him or Snotlout thinking he was weak.

_Besides, _Hiccup thought to himself. _It won't do us any good if I'm sick. We'll be back in Berk soon and away from these Snow Dragons and I can take a break from my cousin._

…

"Well, Ruffnutt, are you happy?" Tuffnutt growled from another part of the forest. "You want me to find this monster and instead we get lost! I'm never going to find our way out of here! This is all your fault!"

His sister didn't reply, of course. She hadn't said anything for the past hour and a half. All she had done was stir once or twice, but other than that, she made no movements and gave no sign of waking any time soon.

"Ok, I know we've been here before," Tuffnutt muttered to himself, shifting his sister in his arms. She was surprisingly heavy for such a skinny girl. "Why do all trees have to look the same?" he growled, looking up at the sky. The wind was starting to pick up and it hadn't stopped snowing. "I don't even know what I'm looking for," Tuffnutt cried out in frustration.

Almost as if in reply, behind him he heard the bushes start to rustle. There was a low growl as he heard something approach them. The Terrible Terror on his shoulder gave a terrified squawk and hid under his coat. Tuffnutt looked around, but couldn't see anything, just the rustling bushes. As he called out to whoever it was to show themselves, they suddenly stopped, but the growling continued.

"Who's there?" Tuffnutt called, looking at the bushes nervously. Nobody replied. Then something strange happened. He heard the sound of footsteps rushing towards him. Still seeing nothing, Tuffnutt was caught off guard when a razor sharp force hit him and sent him flying into a tree.

"What was that!" Tuffnutt gasped to no one. He looked down and screamed in horror. In the snow were large, blood splattered footprints, exactly the same ones he had found with Ruffnutt. But there was no monster. But he could feel the thing's breath on his face. Then something suddenly occurred to the frightened Viking. "THE MONSTER'S INVISIBLE?" he cried out, looking down at his unconscious sister. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME SOONER?"

Ruffnutt, of course, said absolutely nothing. Before Tuffnutt could get his thoughts together, he was knocked off his feet again, this time by an invisible paw that whacked him from the side. In his pain, Tuffnutt accidently let go of his sister, and she was sent sprawling across the ground. As Tuffnutt staggered to his feet, he saw Ruffnutt suddenly float in midair and knew that the monster had picked her up off her feet.

"Let her go, you monster!" Tuffnutt growled, hurling his axe at the invisible thing. The weapon hit the beast in the chest and suddenly the monster was visible as it let out a squeal of pain. Now that Tuffnutt could see it clearly, he kind of wished that it was still invisible. The monster looked like a vulture, but with chameleon eyes and dragon scales. It had a long, vulture beak and terribly long claws and fangs. The wings on its back were armed with spikes instead of feathers.

"What the heck is that thing?" Tuffnutt gasped, taking a step back as the Vulture dragon thing dropped his sister and turned towards him. Tuffnutt reached into his coat and brought out a double headed spear. He and Ruffnutt always carried a back up weapon in case they stupidly lost their first weapon throwing it at an enemy. Before he could react though, the Vulture chameleon suddenly disappeared from view again. But now that Tuffnutt looked closer, he could see that it wasn't invisible, it was just blending in. Not that it made a difference from the fact that it could still kill them both.

"Ruffnutt," Tuffnutt growled in a panicked voice, grabbing his sister and shaking her as hard as he could. "Wake up you demon!" Ruffnutt's head rolled around on her shoulders, but she didn't respond. There was a mighty roar and the demon Vulture pounced again.

…

Things were not looking any better for Astrid and Fishlegs. Astrid had finally managed to kill everything that had attacked them (which seemed to be literally everything within a five mile radius). Fishlegs lay on the ground, panting and out of breath while Astrid rested against a tree, her breath coming out in gasps.

"This is ridiculous," Astrid growled, her eyes closed as she rubbed her sprained ankle. "What is with this crazy forest anyways?"

"At least there's nothing else in this forest," Fishlegs replied, trying to sound cheerful.** (1)** "I don't think anything could possibly get any worse, and I'm sure we're near Berk now. Everything's starting to look familiar now."

"I just hope Hiccup is ok," Astrid muttered with a sad, tired sigh. "If Snotlout has done anything to him, I swear I'm going to kill him."

"I'm sure Hiccup is fine, Astrid," Fishlegs replied, holding up his hands calmingly. **(2) **"He can look after himself just fine. You need have more faith in him."

Astrid looked at him with surprise before letting out another sigh. She smiled calmly. "You're right, Fishlegs. I should have more faith in him," she replied. "Thanks Fishlegs."

"It's what I do," Fishlegs replied with a slightly embarrassed shrug. They were interrupted when suddenly a cute, adorable little chipmunk came scampering down a tree and stood in front of Fishlegs. It looked up at him and smiled. Fishlegs looked at it and smiled. "Aw! How cute!" he cooed. "Why hello there!"

Suddenly, the chipmunk frowned and turned vicious with savage fangs and claws. It was foaming at the mouth as it growled at Fishlegs, it's wide angry eyes twitching.

"Aw come on!" Fishlegs groaned right before the savage chipmunk leaped at him, letting out a yowl.

**You know, aside from the Demon Vultures and Snow Dragons.**

**Wrong again, Fishlegs!**

**I'll stop right there because personally, I'm sick of this chapter. I added the last part just to make a note of how terrible Fishlegs' luck is. Yes. Even the most cutest of critters want to kill him. Aren't you glad you're not Fishlegs? And what about Tuffnutt and Hiccup? They're having a hard time too, though Hiccup thankfully hasn't gotten a lot of torment from Snotlout lately. He's probably realizing it's not a good idea to torture his cousin when his dragon is right there. Hopefully I'll get the next chapter up soon, but until then, read and review. Or else.**


	7. Cold Fire and Vulture Teeth

**When we last left everyone, Hiccup was sick, Tuffnutt was being eaten by a vulture, and Astrid and Fishlegs have gotten absolutely nowhere! What will happen next? Don't ruin the surprise! Even I don't know what I'm talking about! I tell you I'm crazy!**

**Chapter Eight: Cold Fire and Vulture Teeth**

Snotlout growled in annoyance as they stopped for the fourth time. Snotlout had a feeling that Hiccup was slowing them down on purpose. Did he not want to win? And why wasn't his dragon being more helpful? Hiccup kept saying that there was nothing wrong when Snotlout asked him why he was being so slow and Toothless would insist on stopping, despite the boys' protests.

Snotlout heard a soft thud behind him, but he took no notice of it as he continued trudging along. He was too annoyed to be stopping again. And he wouldn't have stopped if Toothless hadn't suddenly growled warningly at him that caused him to turn around.

"What is it now?" he started to snap, but suddenly stopped. Hiccup was lying in the snow unconscious and completely motionless. Sighing, Snotlout stomped over to his cousin and stared down at him. Growling, he kicked Hiccup in the side with annoyance. "Come on, Hiccup! Wake up already!" he snarled. "We don't have time for this!"

Toothless growled at him threateningly. "_My boy is sick! What is wrong with you?"_ the dragon hissed. But since Snotlout did not speak Dragonese, he made no reaction to the dragon's comment.

"You're so lazy, Hiccup," Snotlout continued, kicking his cousin in the side again when he didn't move. "Wake up, cousin. We need to get going already."

"_I'm warning you," _Toothless snarled, glaring at Snotlout and lowering himself over the unconscious boy. "_Don't you touch him."_

"Well what do you want me to do, dragon?" Snotlout asked, waving his hands in the air. "We have to bring him back to win, otherwise I'd just leave him here." Toothless growled at him in response. Snotlout sighed. "Well what' wrong with him anyways? He said he was fine!"

Toothless rolled his eyes in replied. Of course Hiccup would say that! He didn't want them to worry.

Snotlout crouched down beside his cousin and saw with faint relief that his chest was slowly rising and falling as Hiccup struggled for breath, which came out in shallow gasps. Snotlout looked around the clearing. There was still nothing that looked familiar. There was no way they could be close to the village. He looked back up at Toothless.

"Well," he asked. "What are we going to do?"

"_You are going to start a fire and get Hiccup warm. Or else I'm going to use you as the firewood,"_ Toothless's eyes clearly said it all. Snotlout gulped and backed away before running off to start gathering wood, muttering angrily to himself.

"We're never going to win at this rate," he growled to himself as he bent over to pick up wood. Why did his cousin have to be so fragile all the time? He had been like that ever since they were both tiny. What was he going to do with him?

When he returned, Toothless had gotten Hiccup resting against his warm belly, and the Terrible Terror had curled up at his feet. Hiccup's eyes were open slightly and he stared straight ahead, as if loss in thought. As Snotlout approached, Hiccup turned to look at him, with wide, sickly eyes. Now that he looked at him, Snotlout could see that Hiccup looked terrible.

Shaking his head, he threw the wood into a pile and attempted to start a fire. He rubbed two sticks together for about half an hour in which absolutely nothing happened. Frustrated, he threw the sticks into the pile and they immediately burst into flame.

Hiccup didn't say anything as his cousin sat down beside him, his eyes were narrowed in concentration. Snotlout decided not to ask how he was feeling (that would give the impression that he actually cared) and instead gave him a look.

"What are you doing?" he asked him.

"I haven't heard anything for the past hour now," Hiccup muttered in reply. "It's like everything has gone silent."

"Well that's a good thing, isn't it?" Snotlout replied. "Maybe whatever had been making that noise has gone away to hunt something else." Hiccup shook his head in reply.

"I don't think so," he murmured. Snotlout rolled his eyes. Why did everything Hiccup say have to be ominous? It was like he was reading some sort of book or something.

It turned out that Snotlout should have listened to his cousin. Because at that moment, Toothless sat bolt up, his ears pricked and Wide-Eye started becoming crazy, screeching in warning. The two boys had to cover their ears at the sound the Terrible Terror was making. Snotlout was about to ask what was going on when suddenly out of the forest a large, pure white dragon made its way into the clearing. It was twice the size of Toothless, and ten times more vicious looking. Its glaring eyes caught Hiccup and Snotlout in its gaze and it let out a ferocious roar.

"Oh crap," Snotlout hissed at the same time Hiccup whispered, "The Snow Dragon!"

It turned its massive head towards them and with one last angry roar, leaped at them.

…

Maybe someday Tuffnut would be able to look back on this terrible day and laugh about it. But he seriously doubted it. The Demon Vulture had knocked him aside for the fourth time, and this time it had caught him in his claws. Tuffnut didn't even know where to attack the thing since it was still invisible. And kicking at it was obviously not working. When the vulture had lunged at him, he had dropped his second weapon in the snow and was rendered completely helpless.

The vulture had completely forgotten about Ruffnutt and had instead started focusing its attention on killing Tuffnutt. The boy had the wind completely knocked out of him and couldn't find the chance to breath, as the vulture tightened its grip on him.

"Get off, you stupid thing!" Tuffnutt managed to gasp, struggling furiously. By some small chance, he managed to kick the dragon bird right in the throat as it bent forward to take a chomp out of him. The beast let go him and reared back in surprise, becoming completely visible in the process. Tuffnutt took advantage of the distraction to grab his axe which was the closest thing near him.

He swung his axe at the bird as it shook his head, but it recovered just in time to grab the weapon in its humongous jaws. Tuffnutt grabbed onto his axe with both hands and struggled to pull it out of the beast's mouth. It was a fierce tug of war, but Tuffnutt just barely managed to pull the weapon from the monster's teeth.

The angry beast howled and rushed at him, but Tuffnutt was ready this time. He brought the axe down on the monster's lowered head and it caught the thing right between the eyes. It was hardly a death blow, but it was enough for the demon vulture to rear back in pain. It yanked its head away, taking Tuffnutt's axe with it. The monster staggered around, crashing into several trees and swinging its head around wildly.

Out of the corner of his eye, Tuffnutt could see the monster about to bring its massive foot down on his unconscious sister. Gasping, Tuffnutt raced over and threw himself at Ruffnutt, only just managing to pull her out of the way in time.

"Does thing have no weaknesses?" Tuffnutt muttered to himself. He didn't have time to contemplate anything else because at that moment the vulture grabbed him from behind with one of its talons. It savagely ripped the pack that Tuffnutt was carrying that contained all of their supplies right off his back. It tossed Tuffnutt aside and gulped down the entire pack down in one bite.

"Hey!" Tuffnutt growled. "I needed that stuff!" The Demon vulture ignored his comment and started making its way over to Ruffnutt, deciding that Tuffnutt wasn't worth the trouble of eating. Sighing with exhaustion, Tuffnutt slowly pulled himself to his feet and flung himself at the beast. It wasn't going to eat his dead to the world sister if he had anything to say in it.

…

The Snow Dragon must have sensed that there was something wrong with Hiccup (or it assumed that he'd put up less of a fight) because it immediately launched himself at the boy. Toothless just barely managed to jump in between them in time.

As Toothless pounced at the Snow Dragon, Snotlout jumped to his feet and only just remembered to help his cousin to his own feet. They saw out of the corner of their eyes the two dragons clawing at each other furiously.

"Come on!" Snotlout encouraged, tugging on Hiccup's arm. "We have to get out of here!"

"But what about Toothless?" Hiccup asked, turning back at his friend.

"He'll be fine," Snotlout replied with a growl. "He's handled much worse. But we have to get out of here before we're dragon food!"

"But-" Hiccup didn't manage to finish his objection as Snotlout suddenly flung himself at his cousin and threw him to the ground. The Snow Dragon had leaped over Toothless and had launched itself at the two boys, just barely missing them, thanks to Snotlout.

Snotlout glanced at his cousin and saw his breath coming out in shallow gasps, his eyes closed. He turned his head to see the Snow Dragon growling at them. It had blocked their only escape route, and its sides were heaving with anger. Behind them, Toothless stepped up and glared bravely back at the dangerous creature.

"_If you want these two, you'll have to go through me first,"_ Toothless challenged the dragon defiantly.

"_It will be my pleasure,"_ The Snow Dragon replied in a silky smooth voice. It nodded to something behind Toothless. Turning, they saw another Snow Dragon step out from behind the trees, a triumphant smirk on its face. Growling and crouching, the two dragons launched themselves at the Night Fury.

"TOOTHLESS!" Hiccup cried in horror as his friend fell beneath the two massive dragons.

**Cliff hanger! I know we all hate cliff hangers! Astrid and Fishlegs were not in this chapter because I felt they would be a distraction. What's going to happen to the four unfortunate Vikings? Will any of them survive? And what will become of Toothless? Gee, I don't know! Why are you asking me?**

**Poor Hiccup. Fate hates him. Whenever they run into trouble, the trouble always wants to kill him first. Don't forget to read and review, otherwise I'll never let you know what happens!**


	8. Things go downhill

**Holy Crap! It's been almost an entire year since I updated, and I left everyone at a cliff hanger! I am so sorry! You have every right to hit me with a rock (but please don't). So, I'm not going to anger you any further by updating right away. If you can't remember what's been happening, I suggest going back and rereading the previous chapters (I had to do this myself).**

**Chapter Eight: It's only downhill from here**

At first, Hiccup couldn't see the Night Fury under the white dragons and he was sure that he was dead. But then there was a blast of blue flame and Toothless burst from the two dragons, landing in front of Hiccup and his cousin and looking quite fierce. The two Snow Dragons turned to glare at him. Toothless was determined not to let them past.

"He's ok!" Snotlout gasped in spite of himself. Hauling Hiccup to his feet, Snotlout turned to look around. There was not much to run to, and he knew that it was pointless anyways. There was no way they would be able to get very far. Not with the knee deep snow and Hiccup in his condition.

"What are we going to do, Snotlout?" Hiccup gasped, his eyes still locked on Toothless. Snotlout had to admit that he did not know. The situation was looking more and more hopeless. Snotlout knew they couldn't just leave Toothless to his fate, but he wasn't sure what they could do about it. So, Snotlout decided to do one of the only things he could do.

"Hey Ugly!" he called, packing down a snowball and tossing it at one of the Snow Dragons. "Why don't you fight fair? Pick on someone your own size!" One of the Snow Dragons turned towards them and snarled menacingly, starting towards the two boys. Hiccup took a step back.

"Great, Snotlout," he breathed. "Now it's coming after us. Now what?"

Snotlout couldn't tell if his cousin was being sarcastic or not. It was hard to tell with Hiccup, since nearly half of what he said was usually sarcasm. But that wasn't important at the moment. Supporting his cousin with one arm, Snotlout started dragging him towards the trees, hoping they would be narrow enough so the dragon couldn't follow.

"We're not going to make it," Hiccup panted. Sure enough, the Snow Dragon was right on top of them. It loomed over them, raising onto its hind legs and baring its teeth. The massive beast was about to bore down on them, when it was hit in the back with a burst of flame from Toothless.

"_Stay away from them,"_ the black dragon snarled, baring his own teeth. Toothless had the other Snow Dragon pinned down with one paw on his neck. He gathered another breath of air and shot a ball of flame at the second Snow Dragon. The Snow Dragon hissed in pain as the fire scorched through its wing.

The Snow Dragon pinned under Toothless let out a furious roar and finally threw the Night Fury off. Toothless landed some distance away with a heavy thud and slowly rose to his feet with a growl.

Taking advantage of the situation, Snotlout took Hiccup and dragged him towards the cover of some over growth. He shoved him under the plants, making sure he was completely hidden, growled at him to not move, then turned to help Toothless, letting out a mighty Viking roar and swinging his axe wildly over his head.

…

Tuffnut would never remember how he had managed to turn the fight around in his favor. He just saw that vulture thing going for his sister and suddenly strength filled his limbs once again. With a mighty roar, Tuffnut ran at the beast and threw himself at its head. The monster screeched and tossed its head, but the young Viking held on for dear life.

The Vulture Beast let out an angry hiss and started running around randomly, Tuffnut covering its eyes so that it had no idea where it was going. Tuffnut was not quite sure what he was going to do to defeat this thing, but he wasn't going to give up now.

"Any time today would be nice, Ruffnut," he hissed at his peacefully sleeping sister. The only reaction he got from her was a big dose of nothing.

Tuffnut didn't have time to think as the monster whipped its head and sent Tuffnut flying. He crashed into a tree and slid to the ground with a groan. The Vulture turned towards him menacingly, snarling angrily. It had obviously decided that Tuffnut was too much trouble to let live. Knowing no other options, Tuffnut closed his eyes, and waited for the Vulture to finish him off.

…

Snotlout leaped at the nearest Snow Dragon, clinging to its head and hitting it with his axe. He was still yelling his mighty Viking roar. The Snow Dragon let out an angry roar and tossed his head, attempting to shake Snotlout off of him. Toothless leaped at the white dragon and bit down on its throat, refusing to let go.

The Snow Dragon let out a roar of pain, flinging its head in fury and sending Snotlout flying. He tumbled through the air and towards the edge of a cliff that they were trapped against. Toothless let go of the Snow Dragon and leaped to help Snotlout, but he wasn't fast enough. The Viking boy tumbled over the side of the cliff.

"Snotlout!" Hiccup cried, racing over to the edge and peering over. He heaved a sigh of relief when he saw his cousin hanging to a piddly little plant that was growing out of the side of the cliff. "Are you ok, Snotlout?" he asked.

"I'm hanging over the side of a cliff," Snotlout growled at his cousin. "What do you think?"

Sighing, Hiccup lay down on his stomach and reached a hand out towards him. "Take my hand," he ordered. "I'll pull you up."

"I don't need your help," Snotlout insisted. "Besides, you're weak and scrawny. You'd topple over the edge if you tried to pull up anything heavier than a stick!" To emphasize his point, Snotlout gave a great tug, attempting to hoist himself up towards the edge of cliff, but it was too much.

"Come on, Snotlout," Hiccup gasped. "Just grab my hand. I'm trying to help you."

"I thought you weren't going to try and help me anymore," his cousin snarled at him.

"I thought you didn't need anyone's help," Hiccup retorted.

"I don't."

"Just grab my hand," Hiccup snapped at him. Growling in annoyance, Snotlout hung there for a moment, thinking it over. Then, finally making up his mind, Snotlout reached up and snatched Hiccup's hand. The skinny boy felt himself start to slide forward, but he anchored himself firmly and started to tug. There was a long struggle and eventually the two boys were lying in the snow, gasping and panting.

"Wow, cousin," Snotlout panted at last when he caught his breath. "I didn't think you had it in you." Hiccup opened his mouth to reply, but at that moment he was cut off by the roar of the Snow Dragon with the bleeding throat. With an angry growl, the dragon launched itself at Hiccup, catching the smaller boy in his teeth. Snotlout didn't even have time to react.

"_HICCUP!"_ Toothless screamed in terror.

…

The end never came for Tuffnut. He sat there, waiting for unimaginable pain to come to him, but it never did. Opening his eyes, he saw the Vulture thing rear back in pain. It was writhing all over the place, banging itself against trees and screeching with agony. Then Tuffnut saw what was wrong. Another axe was embedded in its back.

_But I didn't throw that,_ Tuffnut thought to himself, looking around. His axe was still in the monster's head. It didn't look like it could take much more of any of this. Then Tuffnut spotted something behind the beast.

"Ruffnut!" Tuffnut gasped in astonishment. His sister was sitting up in the snow, a fierce look in her eyes and a snarl on her lips. She was looking at the vulture with satisfaction and the axe that she had just thrown at it.

"That will teach you to underestimate me," she hissed, raising her head proudly. She still looked in pain, but at least she was awake. Tuffnut expressed his over whelming joy in the only way he knew how.

"What took you so long?" he growled at his sister. "While you were lying there like a sleeping baby, I was here getting killed."

"Well excuse me for being unconscious," Ruffnut snapped. "And you're welcome, by the way. I just saved your life!" The vulture thing banged itself against another tree, blind with fury.

"Well I've been saving your life all day," Tuffnut retorted. "Which, by the way, I wouldn't have had to do if you hadn't wandered off in the first place."

"I didn't wander off," Ruffnut hissed at him, ignoring the monster. "That thing just snatched me right off the ground and you were too stupid to notice anything."

Tuffnut didn't reply, but threw himself at the Vulture Monster once more. He landed on its back and took its horns, steering it towards a particularly large tree. The thing, blinded by rage, rammed its head right into the trunk, burrowing Tuffnut's axe deeper into its skull. With one last screech, the monster slumped to the ground, dead.

After checking that it wasn't going to come back to life, Tuffnut pulled his axe out and headed towards his sister. He bent down beside her, trying to hide the look of relief on his face.

"I'm, er, glad you're ok, sis," he told her. Ruffnut gave him a confused look, but her face softened.

"Why don't we get out of here, then?" she asked. "We'll be home in no time."

"Agreed."

**Well, that was a sweet end to the troubles for Ruffnut and Tuffnut, but the fun is just beginning for Snotlout and Hiccup. Who have believed that Snotlout would actually swallow his pride like that? But more unbelievable things are still to happen, with questions unanswered.**

**Like, what happened to Fishlegs and Astrid? What's going to happen to Hiccup? Who's going to win this competition? And what will they tell Gobber? Well, there's only one way to find out. Read, review, and don't burn my house down so I can actually write the next chapter.**

**Aren't I nice though? Finally answering the long standing cliff hanger with… yet another cliff hanger!**


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